Congestion control in an IP network

ABSTRACT

Upon detection of an overload condition at a network element, the network element sends two messages to those other network elements which may potentially send request messages to the overloaded network element. If the network utilizes the SIP signaling protocol, then the messages sent by an overloaded network element are SIP INVITE and SIP CANCEL. The CANCEL message comprises an indication that the sending network element is unavailable and an amount of time which the recipient network elements are to wait before sending any requests to the overloaded network node. Upon receipt of these messages, the receiving network elements wait for a delay time period before sending any additional request messages to the overloaded network element. During the waiting period, the waiting network elements may send request messages to network elements other than the overloaded network element which provide functionality similar to that of the overloaded network element.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/514,945, filed Oct. 28, 2003.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The conventional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a circuitswitched network in which calls are assigned dedicated circuits duringthe duration of the call. Such networks are well known in the art, andservice providers have developed various services which may be providedto subscribers via such a conventional circuit switched network.

Recently, data packet networks, such as local area networks (LAN) andwide area networks (WAN) have become more prevalent. These data packetnetworks operate in accordance with the internet protocol (IP) and suchnetworks are referred to as IP networks. The popularity of IP networkshas created an interest in providing voice and related services over IPnetworks.

Conventional PSTN voice services dedicate a circuit connection between acalling and called party, and as such, that connection is guaranteed acertain level of performance because it is not shared with any othernetwork users. IP networks, on the other hand, are shared networks inwhich the network resources are shared between users. The notion of aconnection in a data packet network is very different from the notion ofa connection in a circuit network. In a circuit network, the connectionis a dedicated circuit which is used only by the calling and calledparties. As such, it is easy to guarantee a certain level of service viathe circuit network. The problem with such a network is that ofefficiency. That is, the dedication of a circuit between all calling andcalled parties may be inefficient because such dedicated circuitsprovide more bandwidth than is necessary. In a data network, theconnection between two parties is not dedicated, and traffic between theparties is transmitted via the data packet network along with the datapackets of other users. There is no dedicated path between the parties,and data packets may be transmitted between the parties via differentpaths, depending upon network traffic.

One of the difficulties with providing voice and other services over anIP network is that certain services require a minimum guaranteed levelof service. For example, in order for a voice over IP (VoIP) call toprovide an acceptable level of service, the connection must provide acertain bandwidth so that voice quality is acceptable. Other relatedservices (e.g., data, video) also require a minimum guaranteed level ofservice in order to be acceptable. As IP network traffic increases, thenetwork may become congested, and as such, the services provided via thenetwork may become degraded.

Network congestion may be the result of the network elements becomingoverloaded. For example, if the load on a network element becomesgreater than its processing capability, then an overload condition maybe reached at the network element. Such an overload condition couldresult in degraded performance and network services provided inconnection with the network element may be adversely impacted. A seriousproblem occurs when the service provided by the network falls below arequired minimum guaranteed level of service.

What is needed is a technique for controlling network congestionresulting from an overload condition at network elements.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for congestion control in an IPnetwork. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, when anetwork element detects an overload condition, the network elementinforms its so-called counterpart network elements of the overloadcondition. The counterpart network elements of a particular networkelement are those network elements which potentially send requestmessages to the particular network element. The overloaded networkelement informs its counterpart network elements of the overloadcondition as follows. The overloaded network element sends to itscounterparts a first message followed by a second message containing anindication that the sending network element is overloaded.Advantageously, the second message is sent within a threshold timeinterval after the first message. In accordance with a particularembodiment of the invention which is implemented in an IP network whichutilizes the Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) for call setup signaling,the first message is a SIP INVITE message and the second message is aSIP CANCEL message. The receipt by a counterpart network element of thetwo messages as described above indicates to the recipient networkelement that the network element sending the messages is in an overloadcondition.

In accordance with one particular embodiment, one of the messages mayindicate a delay time period during which the recipient network elementwill wait before sending any requests to the overloaded network element.In the above SIP embodiment of the invention, the delay time period isspecified in the SIP CANCEL message. Further, in the SIP embodiment, theSIP CANCEL message also contains a reason code which indicates that thesender is in an overload condition.

The use of the method of the present invention provides an improvedmethod of congestion control in an IP network. Notifying the counterpartnetwork elements that a particular network element is overloaded (i.e.,has reached some processing threshold) allows the counterpart networkelements to begin sending request messages to other network elements (ifavailable) which provide the same functionality as the overloadednetwork element. This helps prevent the overloaded network element fromcausing a degradation in service to users of the IP network.

These and other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detaileddescription and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an IP network in which one embodiment of the presentinvention may be implemented;

FIG. 2. shows a flowchart illustrating the steps performed by a networkelement in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart illustrating the steps performed by a networkelement upon receipt of messages in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an IP network in which one embodiment of the presentinvention may be implemented. The network utilizes the SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP) in order to set up connections (e.g., VoIPcalls) between users. SIP is a well known application-layer controlprotocol used to establish, modify and terminate sessions such as IPtelephony calls. SIP is described in detail in Internet Engineering TaskForce (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 3261; SIP: Session InitiationProtocol; J. Rosenberg, H. Schulzrinne, G. Camarillo, A. Johnston, J.Peterson, R. Sparks, M. Handley, E. Schooler; June 2002, which isincorporated by reference herein. The details of SIP will not bedescribed herein, as the protocol is well known to those skilled in theart. The protocol will be described only insofar as necessary for anunderstanding of the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, it is to be understood that the networkelements shown in FIG. 1 are logical entities. Such logical entities maybe implemented in various hardware configurations. For example, thesenetwork elements may be implemented using programmable computers whichare well known in the art. Such programmable computers would have therequired network interfaces to allow for network communication, as wellas appropriate software for defining the functioning of the networkelements. Such software is executed on one or more computer processorswhich control the overall operation of the network elements viaexecution of such software. The detailed hardware and softwareconfiguration of the network elements will not be described in detailherein. One skilled in the art of data networking and computers couldreadily implement such network elements given the description herein. Asused herein, a network element refers to a logical entity which performsa network function. A network node refers to the computing platform onwhich a network element is implemented.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the basics of call set-up will be described.Assume that IP enabled telephone 102 wishes to initiate an IP telephonycall to IP enabled telephone 104. In FIG. 1, telephone 102 is connectedto a border element (BE) 106 which provides telephone 102 access to theIP network. Similarly, telephone 104 is connected to BE 108 whichprovides telephone 104 access to the IP network. In the example of FIG.1, the transaction begins by telephone 102 sending an INVITE request 110addressed to telephone 104's Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) whichidentifies telephone 104. The INVITE request contains a number of headerfields which are named attributes that provide additional informationabout a message. The details of an INVITE are well known and will not bedescribed in detail at this point.

The INVITE message 110 is received at the call control element (CCE)112. The CCE 112 performs the functions of interfacing with othernetwork elements such as Border Elements, Service Brokers (SB),Application Servers (AS), Media Servers (MS), Network Routing Engines(NRE), and others, to provide the necessary functions to process a callrequest. The CCE 112 determines whether special feature processing isrequired by the call based on the information it receives in theincoming call request (for example the dialed number in the incomingcall request). One example of special processing is 8YY (e.g., 800)service processing. If special feature processing is required, the CCE112 sends a query (an SIP INVITE) 114 to the appropriate applicationserver (AS), for example AS 116. The AS 116 performs the requiredfeature processing and returns by message 118 an appropriate routingnumber for the call. Upon receipt of the routing number, the CCE 112sends a request message (SIP INVITE) 120 to the network routing engine(NRE) 122 to determine the IP address of the appropriate BE for furtherrouting. The NRE 122 returns the requested information by message 124.It is noted that the NRE 122 is shown as a separate logical networkelement in the network of FIG. 1. In various embodiments, the NREfunction may be implemented on the same network node as the CCE 112 oron a separate network node.

Upon receipt of the address of the appropriate BE (in this case BE 108),CCE 112 forwards the INVITE message 126 to telephone 104 via BE 108. Thetelephone 104 accepts the call by sending an OK message 128 back to theCCE 112. The CCE 112 forwards the OK message 130 to telephone 102 via BE106. The VoIP call between telephone 102 and telephone 104 is now setup.

The above description is a high level overview of call processing in anIP network using SIP. While all the details of call processing inaccordance with SIP are not necessary for an understanding of thepresent invention, the above description illustrates that there are manymessages which are required in order to set up one basic call betweentwo endpoints. Of course, in an actual network implementation, therewould be additional network elements as well as many calls being set upsimultaneously. Further, as IP networks become more popular, the numberof calls being handled by each of the networks will increase, whichresults in an increase in the SIP signaling traffic which must behandled by the network.

As the signaling traffic increases, the load upon the network elementsincreases. More specifically, the load upon the network nodesimplementing the network elements increases as the signaling trafficincreases. For example, referring again to the network of FIG. 1, as thesignaling traffic increases, an increased load will be placed upon theCCE. If the processing hardware of the network node upon which the CCEis implemented becomes overloaded, the services provided by the FIG. 1network will degrade, and may fall below a required minimum level.

The SIP protocol, as currently defined by RFC 3261, does not contain atechnique for specifically dealing with network congestion. As such, astraffic in an IP network increases, the SIP signaling will continue toincrease and will eventually result in a degradation of servicesprovided by the IP network.

The present invention provides a technique for controlling congestion inan IP network. The technique, while not limited to the SIP protocol, mayadvantageously be implemented within a network utilizing the SIPsignaling protocol for call setup.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart illustrating the steps performed by a networkelement in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.First, in step 202, the network element determines whether an overloadcondition exists on the network node implementing the network element.There are various ways to accomplish this step. In one embodiment, thenetwork node monitors the processing capacity of its one or more centralprocessing units, and determines that an overload condition exists whenthe processing capacity reaches some processing capacity threshold. Thethreshold will be different depending upon the particular implementationof the network node. The network node may determine an overloadcondition based on the performance criteria of other hardware inaddition to its central processing unit. For example, the network nodemay monitor the traffic being received by its network interfaces or maymonitor the amount of data in its buffer or queue. For clarity ofdescription, a network element executing on a network node in anoverload condition may be referred to as an overloaded network element(or a network element having an overload condition). It is to beunderstood that as used in this description and in the claims, referenceto an overloaded network element or network node means that the networkelement or node has reached some threshold measurement of its processingcapabilities, and does not necessarily mean that the network element ornode is overloaded to the point of a degradation of service or even thatthe processing capacity of the element or node has reached a maximum. Infact, in an implementation of the present invention, it is advantageousto define an overload condition such that the condition will be reachedprior to any actual degradation of network service. Thus, the termoverload is used to indicate that the network element or node hasreached some defined threshold of processing capability such thatcongestion control processing, as described herein, is initiated.

As represented by decision block 202, the network node will continuouslymonitor itself for an overload condition. Upon detection of an overloadcondition, the network element executing on the overloaded network nodesends an INVITE message to its counterpart network elements. As usedherein, the counterparts of a particular network element are thosenetwork elements which potentially send requests to the particularnetwork element. Thus, in step 204, the network element executing on theoverloaded network node sends an INVITE message to its counterpartnetwork elements. An appropriate INVITE message sent from an overloadednetwork element to a counterpart network element is as follows (the linenumbers are not part of the SIP message, but are added here for ease ofreference):

-   -   1. INVITE sip: nwkngbe@nwkngbe.att.com SIP/2.0    -   2. Via: SIP/2.0/UDP fhas1.att.com:5060    -   3. Max-Forwards: 5    -   4. From: <sip:mtcce@mtcce.att.com>    -   5. To: <sip: nwkngbe@nwkngbe.att.com>    -   6. Call-ID: c394563-2010c 2e32238@fhas1.att.com    -   7. CSeq: 100 INVITE    -   8. Contact: sip: mtcce@mtcce.att.com:5060    -   9. Content-Length: 0        Line 1 identifies this message as an INVITE message and        identifies the recipient of the message. In this case, the        recipient is identified as nwkngbe@nwkngbe.att.com. Line 2 is        the Via field which contains the transport protocol used to send        the message, the sender's host name or network address, and the        port number at which it wishes to receive responses. Line 3        contains the Max-Forwards field and indicates the number of        times this message is allowed to be forwarded. Line 4 contains        the From field and indicates the initiator of the request, in        this case the network element in the overload condition. Line 5        contains the To field and indicates the recipient of the        request, in this case a counterpart of the network element in        the overload condition. Line 6 contains the Call-ID field which        uniquely identifies the invitation. Line 7 contains the CSeq        field and contains a single decimal sequence number and the        request method. The CSeq header field serves to order        transactions within a dialog, to provide a means to uniquely        identify transactions, and to differentiate between new requests        and request retransmissions. Line 8 is the Contact field and        specifies the IP address and the port number combination of the        originator of the INVITE. Line 9 is the Content-Length field and        specifies the size of the message. In the present case, the        Content-Length is 0 because there is no Content-Type (i.e., no        payload) in the call request.

Thus, in step 204, the overloaded network element sends an INVITEmessage to each of its counterpart network elements (or to each of itscounterparts which are to be notified of the overload condition). Instep 206 the network node sends CANCEL messages to the same counterpartnetwork elements to which it sent INVITE messages in step 204.Advantageously, the CANCEL messages are sent to the counterpart networkelements within a threshold time interval after sending the INVITEmessages. The choice of the threshold time interval is implementationdependent. An exemplary threshold interval which may be used is 1-4milliseconds.

An appropriate CANCEL message sent from an overloaded network element toa counterpart network element is as follows (the line numbers are notpart of the SIP message, but are added here for ease of reference):

-   -   1. CANCEL sip: nwkngbe@nwkngbe.att.com SIP/2.0    -   2. Via: SIP/2.0/UDP fhas1.att.com:5060    -   3. From: <sip: mtcee@mtcee.att.com>    -   4. To: <sip: nwkngbe@mtcce.att.com>    -   5. Call-ID: c394563-211c 2e32238@fhas1.att.com    -   6. CSeq: 101 CANCEL    -   7. Reason: sip: cause=503; text=“Service Unavailable”    -   8. Retry-After: 5    -   9. Content-Length: 0        Line 1 identifies this message as a CANCEL message and        identifies the recipient of the message. In this case, the        recipient is identified as nwkngbe@nwkngbe.att.com. Line 2 is        the Via field as described above. Line 3 contains the From field        and indicates the initiator of the request, in this case the        network element in the overload condition. Line 4 contains the        To field and indicates the recipient of the request, in this        case the counterpart of the network element in the overload        condition. Line 5 contains the Call-ID field which uniquely        identifies the message. Line 6 contains the CSeq field as        described above. Line 7 contains the Reason field, and in        accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the cause is set        to 503 and the text is set to “Service Unavailable”. This        indicates to the receiving counterpart network element that the        reason for the CANCEL is that the sending network element is        experiencing an overload condition. Line 8, in accordance with        this embodiment of the invention, contains the Retry-After field        and specifies the length of time that the counterpart network        element is to wait prior to sending any additional requests the        sending network element. In this case, the Retry-After field        contains a 5 as an exemplary threshold, which indicates that the        counterpart network element receiving this CANCEL message is to        wait 5 seconds prior to sending any additional requests to the        sending network element. Line 9 is the Content-Length field and        specifies the size of the message. In the present case, the        Content-Length is 0 because there is no Content-Type (i.e., no        payload) in the CANCEL message.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing steps of a network elementupon receipt of an INVITE and CANCEL message as described above. First,in step 302 a receiving network element determines whether it hasreceived an INVITE message followed by a CANCEL message from the samesending network element and where the CANCEL message has a Reason fieldcontaining cause=503; text=“Service Unavailable”. Of course, otherembodiments may use other data in the Reason field to flag an overloadcondition. It is noted here that the CANCEL message will generally bereceived by the receiving network element relatively soon afterreceiving the INVITE because the sending network element sends the twomessage within a threshold time interval. If the receiving networkelement does not receive an INVITE message followed by a CANCEL messagecontaining the above described data in the Reason field, then thenetwork element continues normal processing as represented by block 304.

If the receiving network element does receive an INVITE message followedby a CANCEL message containing the above described data in the Reasonfield, then as represented by block 306, the receiving network elementinterprets these messages as an indication that the sending networkelement (as identified in the From field of the messages) is in anoverload condition. As represented by block 308, the receiving networkelement will wait before sending any additional requests to theoverloaded network element. In one embodiment, the amount of time thatthe receiving network element will wait is specified in the Retry-Afterfield (line 8 in the example given above) of the CANCEL message.

Thus, as described above, the receipt of both an INVITE message and aCANCEL message from the same sending network element containing specificdata in the Reason field indicates to the receiving network element thatthe sending network element is in an overload condition, and therecipient network element will wait for a period of time prior tosending any requests to the overloaded network element. During thewaiting period, the recipient network element may send requests toalternate network element which provide the same services as theoverloaded network element, if any such network elements are available.This prevents any delay in setting up a call due to sending a setuprequest to an overloaded network element.

If there is more than one network element executing on an overloadednetwork node, then each of these network elements may be considered tobe overloaded and each such overloaded network element would execute thesteps shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 as described above.

The foregoing Detailed Description is to be understood as being in everyrespect illustrative and exemplary, but not restrictive, and the scopeof the invention disclosed herein is not to be determined from theDetailed Description, but rather from the claims as interpretedaccording to the full breadth permitted by the patent laws. It is to beunderstood that the embodiments shown and described herein are onlyillustrative of the principles of the present invention and that variousmodifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention. Those skilled inthe art could implement various other feature combinations withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention.

1. A method for congestion control in an IP network operating inaccordance with the Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) comprising thesteps of: in response to determining an overload condition at a firstnetwork element: sending a SIP INVITE message from said first networkelement to at least one other network element at a first time; andsending a SIP CANCEL message from said first network element to said atleast one other network element at a second time, said SIP CANCELmessage comprising an indication that said first network element isunavailable; wherein the time interval between said first time and saidsecond time is less than a threshold time interval between 1-4milliseconds.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said SIP CANCEL messagespecifies a delay time period during which request messages are not tobe sent to said first network element.
 3. The method of claim 1 whereinsaid at least one other network element comprises a plurality of networkelements which potentially send request messages to said first networkelement.
 4. A method for congestion control in an IP network operatingin accordance with the Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) comprising thesteps of: receiving at a first network element at a first time a SIPINVITE message sent from a second network element; receiving at saidfirst network element at a second time a SIP CANCEL message sent fromsaid second network element; wherein the time interval between saidfirst time and said second time is less than a threshold time intervalbetween 1-4 milliseconds; and if said SIP CANCEL message comprises anindication that said second network element is unavailable then waitinga delay time period before sending request messages from said firstnetwork element to said second network element, wherein said delay timeperiod is specified in said SIP CANCEL message.
 5. The method of claim 4further comprising the step of: during said delay time period, saidfirst network element sending request messages to alternate networkelements which provide the same service as the second network element.6. A method for congestion control in an IP network operating inaccordance with the Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) comprising thesteps of: in response to determining an overload condition at a firstnetwork element, sending a SIP INVITE message and a SIP CANCEL messagefrom said first network element to at least one counterpart networkelement, wherein said SIP CANCEL message comprises an indication thatsaid first network element is unavailable; receiving at said at leastone counterpart network element said SIP INVITE and SIP CANCEL messages;wherein the time interval between sending said SIP INVITE message andsaid SIP CANCEL message is less than a threshold time interval between1-4 milliseconds; and in response to receipt of said SIP INVITE and SIPCANCEL messages, determining that said first network element is in anoverload condition and waiting a delay time period before sendingrequest messages from said at least one counterpart network element tosaid first network element, wherein said delay time period is specifiedin said SIP CANCEL message.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprisingthe step of: during said delay time period, said at least onecounterpart network element sending request messages to alternatenetwork elements which provide the same service as the first networkelement.